


Parabatoy

by KaryKu



Category: Shadowhunters (TV), The Shadowhunter Chronicles - All Media Types, The Shadowhunter Chronicles - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Bromance, Childhood, Childhood Friends, Fluff, Gen, One Shot, Parabatai, Parabatai Bond, Pre-Canon, Pre-Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-18
Updated: 2017-08-18
Packaged: 2018-12-16 21:00:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,848
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11836953
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KaryKu/pseuds/KaryKu
Summary: [Pre-canon | child!Alec & child!Jace | one-shot]Prompt: Jace and Alec, as children, play and pretend to be Parabatai.“Did you draw runes on them?” Jace asked, as he picked up one of the soldiers: he seemed different than the others. He looked younger and he was holding a bow instead of a seraph blade. Maybe it belonged to a different collection.“Only on my favorite,” Alec admitted.Jace brought the toy closer to his eyes: he noticed a scribble on the soldier’s right arm, but he couldn’t really tell what it was.“What rune is it?” he asked, frowning.Alec appeared to be blushing, as he disappeared behind the door again.“The parabatai rune.”





	Parabatoy

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: “Jace and Alec, as children, play and pretend to be Parabatai.”

**_Parabatoy_ **

_“You have me. Until ever last star in the galaxy dies. You have me.”_

Illuminae — **Amie Kaufman**

Jace had been living at the Institute only for three days before he entered Alec’s room for the first time. He wasn’t impressed: it looked exactly like his own, apart from the different pattern on Alec’s covers, and the series of frames containing pictures of Idris or the Lightwood siblings.

Jace had expected more toys – action figures, a soccer ball, or some of the same knick-knacks that he’d had when he was younger – but he saw only books and training equipment. The only exception was a set of Shadowhunters toy soldiers, tidily displayed on a shelf.

Jace stared at them, fascinated, but he looked away as soon as Alec noticed. He had dreamed of owning something like that for years, but now he was ten years old: he had lost interest in toys since he was eight, and he didn’t want Alec to believe he still enjoyed soldier play-sets. That’s why he couldn’t help but feel annoyed when, the following day, Alec showed up in his room with the whole set in his arms.

“You can keep them, if you want,” Alec said, putting them down on the bed. “I noticed that you only have one, now you can play battles.”

Jace stiffened, feeling all the weight of his wooden toy soldier inside his left pocket: he thought that nobody had noticed that.

“I’m not six,” he argued, turning his back on Alec. “I don’t play with toy soldiers, just give them to Max.”

Alec was quiet for a few moments. Jace could almost sense his stare on the back of his head, as he was certain that the other boy was trying to figure out if he was lying or not. They’d known each other for less than a week, but Alec seemed innately – and annoyingly – able to guess what was going on in his mind.

“Look, there’s nothing to be ashamed of,” Alec replied, with caution, as if he was expecting a bad reaction from him. “I’ve played with them until last year. They’re useful for learning tactics, battle strategy and stuff like that…”

Jace looked at the little soldiers: a part of him couldn’t wait to examine them all, one by one, and to put them in formation, but he tried as hard as he could to appear indifferent.

“I don’t need toys to learn how to fight,” he responded, with a smirk. “I’m naturally gifted.”

Alec rolled his eyes.

“If you say so… anyway, they’re yours now,” he concluded with a shrug. “If you don’t want them, you can always give them to Max.”

He went for the door before Jace could protest. As soon as Alec had turned his back to him, Jace bent over to examine the toy army.

“Did you draw runes on them?” he couldn’t help but ask, as he picked up one of the soldiers: he seemed different than the others. He looked younger, and he was holding a bow instead of a seraph blade. Maybe it belonged to a different collection.

Alec’s head showed up at the door.

“Only on my favorite,” he admitted.

Jace brought the toy closer to his eyes: he noticed a scribble on the soldier’s right arm, but he couldn’t really tell what it was.

“What rune is it?” he asked, frowning.

Alec appeared to be blushing, as he disappeared behind the door again.

“The _parabatai_ rune.”

Jace’s lips curved up in a smile. Once alone, he took the wooden toy soldier out of his pocket. When he was six he had drawn a _parabatai_ rune on the toy’s neck. It was still there, although faded by time.

Jace glanced at the door one last time, before bending down to line up all the soldiers on the floor. He then took Alec’s favorite Shadowhunter and his own wooden soldier, and made them face each other.

“You followed me,” he whispered, pretending that Alec’s Shadowhunter was the one talking. “I thought I asked you to stay behind with the others.”

“There’s no way I’m staying,” Jace got his own soldier to reply. “ _Whither thou goest, I will go_. You should know that.”

He showed the rune on his soldier’s neck to the other Shadowhunter.

Jace smiled softly, as he made them walk, side by side, towards their army.

“That’s what _parabatai_ do.”

 

*

“Jace?”

Alec knocked a few times before peeking through the half-opened door. He had been looking for Jace for the past few minutes, but he clearly wasn’t in his room.

He entered anyway, his attention drawn by something he saw on the carpet: his toy soldiers were there, tidily lined up in rows. Alec found that unusual: Jace never left anything out of place.

He crouched down to take a closer look. He wasn’t surprised when he found Jace’s wooden Shadowhunter on the sidelines, laying on the floor. His favorite soldier – the archer – was standing next to him.

During the last few weeks, Alec had often overheard Jace play: he liked to simulate long and intricate battles against the demons. The _parabatai_ warriors were the characters he used the most; he assigned them impossible missions, and they always handled them together, fighting with everything they had to protect each other.

However, every scenario Jace invented for the _parabatai_ warriors had a pattern: the games always ended with their crushing defeat. Jace tried his best to keep them together and showcase their loyalty to one other, but often it was that same connection they shared that caused their downfall. Alec’s soldier had died trying to save his _parabatai_ on several occasions. Other times, Jace had made the pair start to argue, and the distraction always led them into some trap.

The way Jace played with his soldiers worried Alec: Jace seemed convinced that having a _parabatai_ didn’t make you stronger, that a bond like that could only get you in trouble. He believed that his best chance of winning a fight was to be on his own.

Alec glanced at Jace’s Shadowhunter, who was still laying on the floor: he stood out from the other toy soldiers because of how worn out he looked. His _parabatai_ was standing close, but he had his back to him.

Alec easily guessed what was going on in the scenario Jace invented for them: the Shadowhunter on the floor was dying – he got hurt by trying to protect his brother in arm – and the other soldier was leaving him behind, to join the rest of the army.

Alec bit his lip, sneakily glancing at the door: Jace wasn’t the only one who felt too old to play with toy soldiers. Alec had used them in secret for months before deciding it was time to outgrow them.

However, in that moment, the idea of continuing Jace’s unfinished game was far too tempting.

He shot one last glance at the door, then he kneeled on the ground. He smiled, as he picked up his favorite toy soldier: Jace had gone over the _parabatai_ rune on his arm with a marker, so that it was more noticeable again.

“It’s all right…” he whispered, bringing him closer to his dying _parabatai_. “It’s okay… I’m here with you.”

He lifted the soldier’s hand – the one with the stele – and made him trace an _iratze_ rune on the other warrior’s arm.

After a few short moments Jace’s Shadowhunter was standing up again. His _parabatai_ tried to approach him, but he stepped back.

“I thought you were leaving,” he said through Alec’s voice.

“Never,” the archer replied. “ _For whither thou goest, I will go_.”

Alec moved Jace’s toy further away from the other.

“I’m done being your _parabata_ i!” he cried. “I almost died because of you: you make me weak.”

Alec shook his head.

“You’re wrong,” he murmured, forgetting to move his Shadowhunter.

Someone touched his shoulder.

Alec jumped up, dropping the toy soldiers.

“Jace…” he stammered, stumbling on the carpet.

Jace stretched his arm out to prevent him from falling, but Alec stepped back, managing to steady himself.

“I was just…I – I wanted to put them away.”

He averted his eyes, his cheeks flushed with embarrassment.

Jace bent over to pick his soldier up.

“You want to play?” he suddenly asked, meeting Alec’s gaze.

Alec gave him a surprised look.

“I know we’re too old for this kind of stuff…” Jace rushed to add, shrugging. “But we could just…”

“I’m in,” Alec interrupted him, crouching down. Instinctively, he went to place his Shadowhunter next to Jace’s. He felt a little embarrassed – he was about to show Jace that he hadn’t outgrown toy soldiers, after all – but he didn’t mind playing with him. After all, ever since they had met all they had done together was studying and training. “Where do we start? Do you want to be the one to organize the army?”

Jace shook his head.

“Let’s start from here,” he replied, pointing at their two soldiers with a nod. “Let’s pick the game up from where you left off. He – I–” he hesitated, clutching at his soldier. “I said that you make me weak. But you said I’m wrong.”

“You are,” Alec confirmed, fiddling with his archer’s quiver.

Jace looked confused.

“Why?” As they exchanged looks, Alec knew, right away, that Jace wasn’t asking for his soldier: he needed to understand that for himself.

 _Help me see where I’m wrong,_ Jace’s eyes were saying, silently begging him. _Teach me how to trust without fearing of being hurt._

Alec shrugged.

“You were dying…” he explained, pushing his soldier towards Jace’s.

Jace moved it away again.

“… Because of you” Jace argued.

“To protect me,” Alec agreed. “But I was there with you when you were fighting all those demons: I helped you kill them. Maybe, if you had been alone, they wouldn’t have hurt you…or maybe they would have done it anyway. In that case, you’d be dead, by now.”

 Jace’s soldier was standing still, as his owner mulled over Alec’s words.

“But I’m alive,” the boy finally declared.

Alec nodded.

“You’re alive,” he repeated, cracking a smile, “because you have me. And I’m alive because I have you.”

Jace hesitated for a few moments, before bringing the toy soldiers closer together.

“I have you,” he repeated, mechanically, as if he was trying to absorb that concept.

“You have me,” Alec confirmed, tracing his soldier’s _parabatai_ rune with his fingertip. _“Until every last star in the galaxy dies, you have me:_ that’s what the books say,” he added, blushing. “They say that’s what having a _parabatai_ feels like… I believe it’s true.”

Jace’s lips slightly curved, his smile slowly wiping away the confusion from his face.

“ _Whither thou goest, I will go,_ ” he recited, gripping his toy soldier in his fist. “Now it makes sense.”

He looked back at Alec: the latter seemed more relaxed, now that Jace was smiling again.

And for the first time since he had moved to the Institute, Jace was starting to understand why.

 “Now I believe it.”

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this story almost a year ago, but after watching 2x20 I needed some Parabatai fluff, so I decided to try to translate it. I wish we could see more moments of Jace and Alec's past in the show: it would be really interesting to see how a child like Jace - who was taught to fear love - started to grow fond of Alec and ended up wanting him to be his Parabatai.  
> I hope the story makes sense! The prompt was a bit tricky because 12!year-old-Alec and 10-year-old-Jace were a bit too old to pretend-play. However, I liked the idea of them using toy soldiers. Mostly because Jace having wooden toy Shadowhunter is canon in the books (he gave him to Max only later, once he got older). 
> 
> Once again I wanted to thank [SapphicAlexandra](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sapphicalexandra), who helped me translate this story from Italian!  
> 


End file.
